Chinese children look like little men and women, for they dress like their fathers and mothers. Boys and girls dress nearly alike. They both dress in silk or cotton trousers. They wear over these long gowns reaching nearly to their feet. They wear odd-looking shoes with thick white soles. The boys' heads are shaved, except a small part on top. There a lock of hair is left. This lock of hair is braided and hangs down the back. A queer name is given to it. It is called a "queue." Girls in China do not go to school, but all day long they are busy; they help their mothers keep house; they tend the babies; they sew, and help with the cooking. [Illustration: Chinese Women and Children.] The schools in China are only for boys. The boys make a great deal of noise in school. A Chinese teacher thinks the boys are idle if they do not study their lessons out loud. So each boy shouts as loud as he can. When the boy has learned his lesson, he goes up and gives his book to the teacher. Then he turns his back to the teacher, and shouts out the whole lesson to show that he knows it. The boys are taught to count. They learn by using balls set in a frame. The frame is like the frame of a slate. The balls slide on wires. With the balls they learn to add and subtract. They also learn how to write, but they have no pens or pencils. They write with small brushes dipped in ink. Each boy makes his own ink. He puts some water on a stone and then rubs a cake of ink in the water. This makes a fine black ink called India ink. Then the boy fills his brush and begins at the top, right-hand corner of the paper. He writes toward the bottom of the sheet. He puts one word under another instead of beside it as you do. Then he begins a new line at the top, and writes to the bottom again. [Illustration: Chinese writing.] Chinese books are printed in the same way. Where do you think a Chinese book begins? A Chinese book begins where our books end. In China many girls and women have very small feet. When they are babies their feet are bound up tightly. They sometimes wear iron shoes. Then their feet never grow, but are so very small that they can hardly walk. Poor parents know their girls will have to work hard, and so do not bind their feet. Chinese girls make beautiful paper flowers. They paint pictures. They sing and play. Some of them pick the snow-white cotton in the fields. Some of them take care of the silk-worms that spin the soft silk.